The moment more than ten thick vines appeared, they immediately whipped around, lashing fiercely toward Yù Xiǎogāng and Xiāo Yán.
The speed of these vines' attacks was incredibly fast—if it were a pure speed contest, Xiāo Yán knew it would be difficult to dodge.
Fortunately, with his Purple Extreme Demonic Eyes, the movements of these vines appeared like slow motion to him.
Stepping with the Ghost Shadow Stealth Steps, Xiāo Yán easily dodged, his arms occasionally raised high or swung wildly, pulling Yù Xiǎogāng on the other end to avoid the vines' strikes.
Every time a thick vine narrowly missed striking beside him, Yù Xiǎogāng felt terrified to death seeing the earth crack from the impact.
With his rank as a great soul master, if he got hit even once by these vines, he'd probably be turned into meat paste instantly.
Xiāo Yán dragged the Dàshī—tied up by the Blue Silver Emperor's vines—moving like a ghost through twists and turns until finally escaping the attack range of the golden thread vine, reaching a few hundred meters away.
Though Xiāo Yán was unharmed, Yù Xiǎogāng fared poorly—bumping into large stones, crashing into big trees, and even being dragged face-down for tens of meters.
His face, originally stiff and zombie-like, now bruised and swollen, oddly looked a bit more comical—somehow more pleasant than before.
Standing far off, Xiāo Yán glanced at the fully revealed golden thread vine.
Overall, the tree from before now looked like a giant octopus overturned in the soil.
Several thick vines were its tentacles.
Curious about the soul beast that nearly killed him, Yù Xiǎogāng stared closely and suddenly exclaimed.
His face, blue, purple, and marked with many blood streaks, twitched fiercely with this sudden expression. He cried out softly, covering his face, saying:
"It's actually this kind of plant soul beast! I always thought it was just a legend recorded by the Martial Soul Hall. I never expected such a soul beast to truly exist in the world!"
Martial Soul Hall? Xiāo Yán raised his eyebrows. The Dàshī actually has such deep ties with the Martial Soul Hall?
Right, he recalled the token in his hand—it was a third-class token from the Martial Soul Hall, a rank not low at all.
Xiāo Yán stepped forward and asked, "Dàshī, do you know this plant soul beast?"
The golden thread vine soul beast was extremely rare and a master of disguise and ambush. Once it struck, it was almost always fatal.
The Blue Silver King only knew about the golden thread vine because of his long life and countless blue silver grass communicating information.
And yet the Martial Soul Hall also knew about it? To what extent?
Yù Xiǎogāng thought for a moment, then said:
"I once read about it in a book. This plant soul beast is called the Golden Thread Vine. According to records, a ten-thousand-year-old golden thread vine disguises itself as a tree and suddenly attacks when a soul master or soul beast approaches carelessly."
"The vines of the golden thread vine are as hard as gold and iron, and creatures entangled in them can hardly resist."
"Even if it fails to trap prey in one attempt, the golden thread vine will reveal its true form."
"It has a peculiar ability: during attack, it can drastically reduce its vine's weight, becoming very light and accelerating several times, but the moment it hits its target, it instantly becomes heavy—like carrying thousands of pounds of force."
"The book says that if you encounter a golden thread vine's ambush, unless you're incredibly powerful, death is almost certain."
Xiāo Yán couldn't help but admire this.
Of course, not the Dàshī, but the Martial Soul Hall.
As the continent's strongest soul master organization, Xiāo Yán never expected them to have such detailed records even on obscure soul beasts like the golden thread vine.
Looking back, the information about the dark demonic evil god tiger probably also came from the Martial Soul Hall rather than the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus family.
It seems he needs to reevaluate the Martial Soul Hall's power. Judging from these records, the two soul masters from the Martial Soul Hall he saw earlier who faced these rare soul beasts and survived must be at least of the Title Douluo level!
Earlier, Xiāo Yán guessed his speed barely matched the golden thread vine's attack speed because of the vine's abnormal ability to control its body weight.
Yù Xiǎogāng carefully counted the visible vines:
"According to records, the golden thread vine grows three additional vines every ten thousand years. This one has fifteen vines—I estimate it's a fifty-thousand-year-old soul beast."
Xiāo Yán already knew this info from the Blue Silver King after his second soul awakening.
The only difference now is that he understood absorbing a soul beast's soul ring could transfer some of its traits to his own martial soul.
Initially, he thought if he ever encountered a golden thread vine, he'd kill it and weave its vines into a heavy armor set.
Now, that seemed unnecessary.
The only question remaining: how to kill this golden thread vine?
"What a pity, what a pity..." Yù Xiǎogāng sighed deeply.
"Although this golden thread vine is very tough, it doesn't have a poison attribute; otherwise, it would have been a perfect soul ring."
"Also, a fifty-thousand-year-old golden thread vine isn't something we can handle. Ah, such a top-tier soul ring gone to waste!"
His voice was loud, intending to urge Táng Hào, hidden in the shadows, to act quickly.
This golden thread vine's value was just under a hundred-thousand-year-old soul beast!
Any plant martial soul user who absorbed its soul ring would wake up laughing in their dreams.
Xiāo Yán's first soul ring was about fifty thousand years old; absorbing another soul ring around that age for the second ring was no big deal.
He rubbed his nose confidently and said:
"That's not necessarily true! The golden thread vine is tough, but it's still just a plant. Its inability to move is its fatal weakness."
"Also, for a soul beast that relies on ambush, exposing itself is an extremely dangerous move."
"Xiāo Yán, you have a plan?" Yù Xiǎogāng now knew this person was the son of Hào Tiān Miǎnxià, and judging by his earlier moves, his strength was extraordinary!
Xiāo Yán also understood that Táng Hào probably had already informed this Dàshī about him.
After thinking for a moment, he came up with a plan that this very "smart" Dàshī could accept.
"Dàshī, thanks to your reminder—using external force is like poisoning oneself. So, I will use poison to kill this golden thread vine!"
Hearing this, Yù Xiǎogāng felt comforted but doubted looking at the huge golden thread vine.
"Poison? This golden thread vine is powerful; are you sure you can poison it to death?"
(End of chapter)